Senator Collins Presses Secretary of Defense on Inadequate Shipbuilding Budget Request, PNSY Hiring Delays
Shipbuilding Budget Q&A: Click HERE to watch and HERE to download
PNSY Hiring Delays Q&A: Click HERE to watch and HERE to download
Washington, D.C. – At a hearing to review the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget request for the Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Committee, questioned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the inadequate budget request for shipbuilding at a time when China’s naval power continues to grow. Senator Collins also pressed the Secretary on the Administration’s reliance on reconciliation to fund critical warfighting ships and the hiring delays at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY), despite a hiring freeze exemption.
Q&A on Shipbuilding Budget:
Senator Collins:
You recently stated that DOD is focused on the strategic threat posed by China, and that this threat is, and these are your words, “real and could be imminent.” And I agree with you. China now fields a navy of approximately 400 ships, and is expanding its fleet at a pace that far exceeds ours. The U.S. Navy currently has only 293 ships – clearly inadequate. Yet, the Department of Defense budget for FY 2026 proposes funding for only three additional ships: a Columbia-class submarine, a Virginia-class submarine, and an ocean surveillance ship. No funding in the base budget is requested for DDG-51's, the Navy's workhorse surface combatant.
Instead, the Administration, unwisely, is relying on reconciliation to fund a second Virginia-class submarine and two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Reconciliation, Mr. Secretary, was meant to provide one-time supplemental funds to augment the defense budget, not to supplant the investments that should be in the base budget.
Could you explain the Department's rationale for excluding these critical warfighting platforms from the annual appropriations request and creating instability for future defense budgets?
Secretary Hegseth:
Senator, I appreciate the question. There are a lot of complexities that go into how budgets are formed. From the view of our Department, working on Capitol Hill and with the White House, is that we have two bills and one budget. So, when I look at the threats that we face in the Indo-Pacific, that is precisely, as we work with the chairman, and the Joint Staff, and across OSD, and all the COCOMs, that has precisely been the compass by which we have judged the capabilities that we need. So, when you look at the totality of the $961 billion, or $1 trillion total, over national security, that's 19 new ships. It's a historic investment in shipbuilding. It's over $6 billion in the shipbuilding defense industrial base. It's long-range fires, it's hypersonics, it's prepositioning stocks, it's critical munitions. It's all focused in ways the previous Administration talked a lot about, but we are actually making the tough choices to invest in.
So, I understand the dynamics of base bill versus reconciliation, and I can see that, ma'am. But, ultimately, we're looking at it as one investment for FY26, and we think with a 13 percent increase over last year, that it's a historic investment.
Senator Collins:
Well, I would point out that the budget overall actually provides less buying power than the FY 2025 enacted budget, because it does not adjust for inflation. And I hope that's something that we can work together on to correct.
Q&A on PNSY Hiring Delays:
Senator Collins:
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, overhauls the Navy's nuclear submarines. Senator Shaheen and I helped to secure an exemption from the hiring freeze for the shipyard, and that is absolutely essential. But, if I could speak for Senator Shaheen as well as myself, both of us are hearing from shipyard leaders, as well as the Navy, as well as the rank-and-file workers and the union leadership, that the delays in hiring and onboarding across the workforce, from frontline mechanics to security personnel, continue.
Could you speak to what is causing this delay, since the exemption from the hiring freeze was granted months ago?
Secretary Hegseth:
Well, it's great point, Senator. I will have our team dive into that, because that should not be the case. They were very specifically exempted because of the importance of those shipyards. And whatever we can do to speed it up for you, we will do.
###
Next Article Previous Article